Following passage of House Bill 20-1343 by the Colorado General Assembly, laying hens will have to be housed in alternatives to cages.  Commencing 2023, there will be a two-year transition period until all hens in the state will be housed in other than cages and all eggs sold in the state will be derived from hens conforming to Colorado regulations.

The Colorado Department of Agriculture will establish inspection and certification protocols confirming that farms are cage-free with respect to units with more than 3,000 hens.

Reference to the regulations available at <Ag.Colorado.gov/eggs> states that hens must be “housed with enrichments such as scratch areas, perches, nest boxes and dust bathing.  “Cage-free housing allows hens to exhibit their natural behaviors”, according to the Egg Program Manager, Julie Mizak. 

All hens in Colorado will need 144 square inches of floor area from January 2023 and effectively only barn or aviary systems will comply with regulations from 2025 onwards.